Heretofore, there had not been developed any generally acceptable or workable device which lent itself to the ready retention or removal of tennis balls, golf balls, baseballs, etc. by players or umpires. Those devices which were attempted invariably were cumbersome, awkward, required considerable skill for the insertion and removal of the balls, and invariably interfered with the player utilizing the device.
Consequently, there developed a desideratum for a device which avoided the disadvantages and drawbacks mentioned hereinabove. The apparent animadversion set forth hereinabove with respect to the prior art developments will be seen to be quite justified and accurate by directing attention to the following prior art developments discussed hereinbelow.
In 1931 Frederick W. Bender was granted United States Letters Pat. No. 1,814,887 entitled "UMPIRE'S BELT" that discloses a belt which is to be worn by an umpire and which carries a number of baseballs for use. The belt has a plurality of spaced resilient open-ended supports, one for each ball. Each support is composed of two U-shaped flat spring members which are connected together in a cruciform at their base and which are attached to a belt in such a way as to prevent rotation.
In 1937 Fred J. Hatley was granted United States Letters Pat. No. 2,074,180 entitled "TENNIS BALL HOLDER" which discloses a device to hold a tennis ball on the player by attaching it to the belt or the shorts of the player. The device is comprised of a pair of resiliently-mounted rings of approximately the same diameter as a tennis ball which are made of spring wire. The rings are attached to a base, which in turn hooks onto the belt or shorts of the player.
In 1951 Eugene R. Wiseman was granted United States Letters Pat. No. 2,548,330 entitled "GOLF BALL HOLDER" which discloses a device for holding two golf balls on a golfer's belt. The holder is made from molded plastic material and consists of two hemispherical compartments to accept the golf balls which are held in place by two detents in the upper portion of each compartment. Also molded into the front of the holder is a clip to hold a pencil, and a second clip is molded in the rear to fasten to the golfer's belt.
In 1975 Noel G. Goudreau was granted United States Letters Pat. No. 3,873,009 entitled "BALL HOLDER" which discloses a two-part device for holding tennis balls. The device includes a base and a retaining ring which are joined together by means of a protrusion on the ring snapping into a recess in the upper portion of the base. The base has a cavity defining a spherical portion which is less than a hemisphere to accept a portion of the tennis ball. The base also has an integral clip composed of two fingers which clip over the player's shorts or pockets.
The present invention eliminates the disadvantages and shortcomings attendant with the conventional prior art technique, and at the same time provides a device and method which eminently fulfills the desideratum mentioned hereinabove with a minimum of parts and at an extremely surprising reduced cost of manufacture.